Chapter One Emily swept back a long strand of hair and sighed. It is unbelievable how slow this line is moving, Emily thought as she looked around the crowded fast food restaurant. Emily had promised Lucky, Liz, Sly, and Lark Madison, she would provide the snacks for their lunch break. They were in the middle of rehearsing for this year’s Nurses Ball. Liz, Lark, Sly and Emily had a skit together and Emily had another with just Lucky. But it was beginning to look as if she was never going to get back to the rehearsal studio. She tapped her foot in frustration and checked her watch again. “Come on, you morons.” Emily muttered. She was feeding into her anger and annoyance rather than concentrating on the thing that was really bother her… Nikolas. Emily bent her head and rubbed her forehead. She had to stop thinking about Nikolas, especially after the bombshell he had dropped on her a few days ago. The conversation they’d had was still constantly replaying in her mind: ‘Oh, hi Nikolas, were you coming to see me?’ Emily asked, pleasantly surprised. It was rare that she and Nikolas ran into each other. After Tom’s trial, Nikolas seemed to drift away from the other teens, concentrating more on becoming part of the Cassadine business and working on the auction with Katherine. Actually now that Emily thought about it, the few times Nikolas had come over to see her, he ended up spending more time with Katherine, locked up in her room. ‘I was just off to another rehearsal. We’re working very hard on this year’s Nurses Ball.’ Emily told him. ‘Are you coming to it this year?’ ‘Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.’ He looked as if he was about to explode. ‘What about? Did you change your mind and decided to perform after all? Lucy will be psyched. A Cassadine performing at the Nurses Ball.’ Emily was not only performing in it she’d gotten roped into being Lucy’s assistant, which was only slighter better than being her dresser. ‘No, that’s not it. Emily, I’m only telling you this because you’ve been a great friend,’ Emily started to smile at his words, ‘and I didn’t want you to be as shocked as everyone else.’ ‘Well, what is it and what does it have to do with the Nurses Ball?’ ‘Katherine and I… well, Katherine and I are together now and we’ve decided to make the Nurses Ball our first appearance together as a couple.’ Nikolas told her with a big grin. Emily’s heart dropped down to the floor. ‘What?’ She whispered. ‘You and… Katherine?’ Nikolas nodded. ‘We’ve be together for a while now, ever since December and I’ve finally convinced her that we should hide our love.’ ‘Your love?’ Emily repeated. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘Right, I love her and she loves me. Now, I want you to keep this a secret, Emily, until the Nurses Ball. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone but I just had to. So can I count on you?’ Emily couldn’t hear what he was saying. After hearing Nikolas announce that he loved Katherine all the blood just seemed to rush to her ears. Emily leaned back against the door. ‘You love her? But she’s so… and all those times you came by to see me and Katherine just happened to interrupt us and you two just had to get to work on the auction, all that was just a way to spend time with her?’ Nikolas shrugged. ‘We didn’t plan it that way at first but later on…’ What an insensitive jerk, she thought. ‘So you two just…just used me?’ She asked accusingly. Emily almost doubled over. She felt sick to her stomach at the way Nikolas was just use her friendship as a way to see Katherine more often. ‘I didn’t see it as using…Emily, are you okay?’ Nikolas noticed how pale she was becoming. He reached out to touch her. Emily jerked away. ‘No, I’m not okay. I have to get to the rehearsal studio. Everyone’s waiting for me. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about you and Katherine.’ Emily said before bolting out the door. That was the last time she saw him. She’d been avoiding all contact with him, throwing herself into the preparations for the Nurses Ball, a quick way to forget about her troubles. But when she finally slowed down, she couldn’t help but think about him…and Katherine Bell. Just the thought of them two together made her skin crawl. Emily shivered. But why Katherine? Why couldn’t he have picked someone his own age? It didn’t have to be me, she thought, I’m just his “little sister”. God, how I hate that phrase. But Katherine just didn’t make any sense. She had been engaged to his uncle for goodness sakes! Emily sighed. “The long lines always get to me too. You’d think they would open another registrar.” Said a frustrated voice behind her. Emily whirled around to see an older very good-looking guy standing behind her. He was of average height, just a little taller than she was. He had black hair, warm dark eyes and a ready smile. He was wearing grease-stained jeans and a T- shirt. He looked very familiar to her but she couldn’t remember where she’d saw him. “I’m sorry, where you talking to me?” Emily tried to asked as politely as she could but she had no interest in talking with a perfect stranger. “I was sort of talking to anyone in general but you’ll do.” He smiled. His smile faded when he noticed how upset Emily looked. “Hey, are you okay?” Without thinking, he reached out to touch her. Emily recoiled from his touch. “I’m fine.” She said coldly. She turned her back to him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to… I’m what you’d probably call a toucher.” He said softly behind her. “But you don’t look fine to me. You look sad and very familiar.” Oh, no, not another pervert who saw the fake nude picture of me, Emily thought. “I’m fine.” “I seriously doubt that. Is something bothering you?” He pressed. Emily turned back around. “I don’t even know you and you think I’m going to tell you my life story?” He backed up. “Hey, I’m sorry for bothering you. Though sometimes it’s easier to tell a stranger your troubles.” “Not for me.” Emily declared. “This line is never going to move and I have people waiting for me. I’m getting out of here.” Emily started to move away and accidentally dropped her purse on the ground. Their hands brushed against each other as they both bent down to pick up the dropped purse. A crackle of electricity went through them. Emily immediately looked up into his eyes. He smiled hesitantly. “Here you go.” He stood and passed her the purse. “Thank you.” Emily murmured. What was that? She thought to herself. This strange feeling just came through me and… wow. “You know, you’re right. This line is never going to move. We should both get out of here.” He said suddenly. He placed his hand on her back and gently pushed her out of the line. “I know this great Chinese take-out place on 5th. My bike is right outside.” Emily chewed her lip. She would really like to go with him but… “I can’t. I don’t even know your name.” “It’s Mario.” He said. “And you are?” “Emily.” She supplied. “Great.” He smiled. “Now we can go.” Mario didn’t know what it was about this girl but for some reason since the moment he saw her, he just wanted to make the sad look in her eyes go away. He wanted to hold her and tell her that everything was okay. Yeah, you tell her that, Mario and she’ll think you’re nuts, he told himself. “Hold on there.” Emily smiled. “I barely know you, I can’t just go riding off on your motorcycle.” “Why not? I would never hurt you.” Emily narrowed her eyes, cocked her head to the side and looked at him. The way he said that made her believe it. He would never hurt me. She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts. “No, I really can’t. I was supposed to supply lunch for my friends. They’re all waiting for me.” Mario frowned. “Oh, a prior engagement. How about I give you a rain check?” “Who said we’ll be seeing each other anytime soon?” Emily teased. “Oh, you will.” He promised with a small smile. He touched her lightly on the cheek. “I’ll make sure of that.” Emily watched as he strode out of the restaurant. He paused at the door to smile at her once more before walking out. Emily started to grin to herself. Maybe things are looking up. She turned and saw that while they had been talking another registrar had opened. Emily hurried over to make her purchases. *~*~* Emily walked into the rehearsal studio, followed by Reginald who was helping her carry in the food. The starving teens descended on them like locusts. Emily stepped back and watched as they divided up the food. “Hey, Emily, what took you so long?” Lucky asked as he stuffed a French fry in his mouth. “Micky D’s was packed.” Emily told him as she popped a straw into her milkshake. “What did I miss?” “Nothing much, Lucky and Liz made goo-goo eyes at each other while Sly and I starved to death waiting for you. Oh, and this Cassadine guy showed up looking for you.” Lark filled her in. “It was Nikolas.” Liz corrected. “He said he would drop by again later.” “Oh.” Emily said quietly. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to Nikolas again. Maybe this time he’ll tell me he and Katherine are getting married, she thought with disgust. Emily hopped up. “I want to run through the Fever song one more time.” Lucky put down his hamburger. “Emily we’ve done it at least three times today. I can’t dance anymore.” Emily shrugged. “It’s okay. I just want to make sure I have the pacing right.” “Knock yourself out. The tape’s still in the tape deck.” Lucky gestured over to the small radio. Emily crossed the room. She sat down on the floor next to the radio and pressed play. She waited for the beat to begin and closed her eyes. Suddenly an image of Mario came to her. She concentrated on his warm eyes and began to sing, low and throaty. “Never know how much I love you. Never know how much I care. When you put your arms around me, I get a fever that's so hard to bear. You give me fever, when you kiss me. Fever when you hold me tight. Fever in the morning, fever all through the night.” *~*~* Later Emily poked her head into the garage and called out, “Jason, are you here?” After rehearsal, during which Nikolas didn’t show up again, Emily had decided to drop in on Jason. Even though Jason had gotten sucked back into the mob, he spent a lot of time at the bike shop so she was hoping she would find him there. She wanted to find out if he was still going to go to the Nurses Ball and if she could sit at his table. Emily walked in the garage. “Jason?” “Sorry lady, the boss isn’t here today.” Said the part-time mechanic as he came walking out of the back, wiping the grease off his hands. He was looking down at his hands and glanced up to see who was there. Emily gasped. It was Mario. “Mario?” “Well, whadaya know?” Mario smiled. “I told you we would be meeting up again.”